Pheonix Eye
by Pheonix Eye
Summary: A work yet to be completed, created by all those at the Pheonix Eye guild...
1. chap 1

Vamp looked at the clock in the corner of the room. They had been here for around an hour. So far only Pitin and Cutie were able to form fully corporeal patronuses.  
Harry was deeply impressed and found that he had fallen into deep thought.  
The class had suddenly gone quiet, looking at Harry. He once again had the look that something was bothering him.  
He jerked back to reality, realising that everyone was looking at him.  
"Uhhh, that was really good, but it's getting late. Classes tomorrow, off to bed."  
In small groups the students thanked Harry, asking when they were doing this again.  
"Soon." He replied.  
And slowly the mysterious little room emptied as everyone made their way to their common rooms.

Pitin followed Vamp and Cutie out of the room. But before they where at the door she turned around and asked again in a very timid voice. "Mr. Potter, if you don't mind, why are we getting this extra class?"

"Too bed, Pitin!" He shooed her away.  
'Nearly as bad as me when I was at Hogwarts.' He sadly smiled to himself once everyone had gone. He exited through the door and it disappeared behind him as the velvet curtains closed and shrunk into nothingness, leaving the boring blank corner of room.

Vamp yawned. "Well it's quarter to 10. I need to finish my Herbology assignment."  
Vamp and Pitin both hiked up a large staircase in a very strange pattern of footsteps so as not to anger it.  
As Vamp did so, his wand fell from his pocket and rolled to the bottom of the stairs.

Pitin went down after it going gingerly from step to step. She retrieved it and retuned it to Vamp. "That is some odd wand wood what is it?" They continued up the steps to a long hall full of butterflies. "Mine is Unicorn Hair, Mahogany, 8 inches."

"Mermaid Scale, ash, 10 3/4 inches. I heard you picked your's up at Ollivanders, that strange place in London."  
Said Vamp, enjoying the conversation after hearing so many weird stories about this Ollivander.  
They paused at a statue of a large chameleon, and at once a small chameleon appeared in front of them.  
Pitin leant in closer and whispered something into its ear.  
The statue swung away and they entered the common room.

Cutie walked alone down a hall leading to her own common room. It was a little chilly in the castle now that summer was officially over. Twirling her wand in her fingers she wondered why Harry wouldn't tell them what the purpose of the classes were. Surely it couldn't be just an advanced class. As he watch people perform he seemed to be looking for something, but Cutie had no clue what it was. Yet. She finally reached the falcon statue and murmured the word to it. It beat its stone wings once and soared just over her head, giving her entrance to the Calisto common room. Cutie entered her dormitory, said goodnight to a few other girls and fell asleep on her bed, without even taking off her shoes.

"Pitin. Vamp. What are you two doing up at this time of night." Pitin and Vamp froze in there steps. Pitin considered just dashing with Vamp into the common room and slamming the door behind them. However she slowly turned around to face Professor Nulmit and take what's coming to her. "Hello Professor, Sir, Nulmit we where allowed to take and extra class with Mr. Potter and he showed us how to conjure a patronus. Sir." She had decided that in this case the truth was the best. However it didn't help this time "I highly doubt that Ms. Kathleen. Ten points for lying and detention to both of you for being out of bed after hours."

"What was she doing waiting outside our common room?" Whispered Vamp once she was gone.  
"Detention! I curse worms into her socks!" Said Pitin in a strangely polite and lady like voice.  
The both stepped into the common room. A few people sat at tables and there was one girl sitting in the arm chair by the oddly coloured fire, on closer inspection it was Evy who had somehow managed to get back from the lesson in practically no time at all.  
"I'll just get my Herbology textbook. What are you doing?" And Vamp headed for the boy's dormitory.

Pitin yawned loudly and went to her own room. She turned the light down to dim and took of her shoes but as she looked out the mirror she noticed a lone penguin making its may across the grounds. As she lied down on her bed she decided that the day hasn't bin a total loss and her fantasies of battling death eaters with Harry Potter slip of into dreams of battling death eaters with Harry Potter. Then they turn into a bunch of other weirder dreams that have no importance except in deciphering her unconscious worries.

Vamp rushed up stairs again, rummaged through his draws as silently as possible the picked up a small origami frog and brought it back down to the table he was studying at.  
'If only Pitin could see it.' He thought to himself. "Ah, shouldn't you be studying?" And then she stairs at the frog pointedly.'  
"It jumps and everything." Said Vamp sarcastically; putting a finger down on the paper frog and making it jump. He looked around just realising he said that out loud.  
He scribbled something on the frog, tapped it with his wand and whispered to it "Cutie, Calisto common room."  
The frog jumped away and under a crack in the brickwork.

Cutie, still sleeping on top of the covers, shoes and cloak still on could have been in a coma for how heavily she was sleeping with her arm hanging off the bed. Until the origami frog hopped into her open hand.

"AHH!" she screamed, flinging the frog across the room and knocking over a picture frame. Luckily no one else was in the dormitory. After actually waking up and getting her heart rate back to not sounding like a bass drum, she tiptoed around the broken glass and picked up the frantic paper frog.

"Cheese! Take a pill. I only chucked you across the room and into a glass object that is apparently prone to shattering. Nothing to worry about." she grumbled as she held the still-hopping frog in her hand as she carried it back to her bed. Recognizing Vamp's handwriting she thought aloud "Oooh, I didn't know he could do that. Gotta make him teach me" and tried unfolding the paper frog. But it squawked like a parrot and tried to hop away. Sighing, Cutie grabbed her wand and used it to open the frog. There was nothing written inside. Grabbing a quill from her nigh table she wrote on the inside of the frog "Oi...what's up? And why are you waking me up" and re-folded the frog. Not knowing what the actual spell was, she whispered to the frog "go back" and put it on the floor.

Vamp waited until the frog came back. It jumped onto his table, slightly dirty and ragged; he wondered what had happened to it.  
Unfolding the frog, he read Cutie's message then scribbled his reply.  
_Just seeing if you were awake. Have you seen Prof. Nulmit this evening?_  
He lifted his quill and the paper refolded itself into the frog. It's paper face angled at Vamp in a somewhat restless way. Vamp nodded and the frog went off again, under the crack in the brickwork.  
Vamp closed his heavy Herbology book, and looked around. The common room was deserted apart from himself and Evy who was busy at work.

Feeling that it wasn't smart to go back to sleep until Vamp sent the frog back, Cutie opened her Charms book and started looking for the spell to let her make her own message-animals. The frog, looking impatient and very rumpled after two-refoldings hopped onto the textbook and let out a huge croak.

_That was fast._ Cutie thought to herself as the frog unfolded herself so she could read the message. Taking her quill out again, she wrote:

_No, I haven't seen her at all tonight. But I did have that odd feeling of being watched as I walked back to my common room after the extra class. It might have been the portraits though. Or maybe Choey, she did get back just after I did but I didn't think she knew that shortcut. Why do you ask? You make it sound like something's up._

The last word was smudged as the frog decided that enough was enough. It refolded itself and hopped off the bed and into a crack in the floor, leaving Cutie biting her bottom lip in puzzlement and anxiousness.

Vamp had gone upstairs into the dormitory to replace his book.  
The frog jumped its way upstairs and onto Vamp's bed as he read Cutie's message. He quickly scribbled something down.  
_Professor Nulmit was outside our common room after we left Potter's class. She was strangely on edge and she snapped at us. It could be that she is jealous of Harry; I mean he could do her job in his sleep. I'm bored. Wanna go for a walk? If so meet me in the bubble room. Either way, send the frog back; it will know where I am._  
Vamp walked out into common room, paused for a moment, trying to remember a spell.  
"Clarius" he whispered and his robes dimmed and become sort of clear and see through.  
_I really need to get an invisibility cloak._ He thought to himself.

Choey came running up the stairs to the her dormitory and found Cutie reading what appeared to be a paper frog.  
"Um...may I ask what you're doing?" Choey asked as she flopped down on the edge of her bed.  
"Reading," Cutie replied simply.  
"I can see that!" Choey replied, rolling her eyes. "Anyways, wasn't that Patronus lesson so cool!"  
Cutie nodded, still reading the paper frog. She then got up without a word and started walking towards the door.  
"Hey, where're you going?" Choey asked. "I wanna come! Hey wait!" But Cutie had already left. "Nobody tells me anything!" Choey sighed, then after thinking for a moment, disillusioned herself and got up to follow Cutie.

Pitin woke up with a start. Her pulse was very fast as she had bean dreaming about the bogart telling every one her darkest secret. She was very unnerved so she grabbed a pot of not yet hot coco. She went down to the common room to heat it up over the fire and saw Vamp leaving! She couldn't let him get Knocturnes in more trouble so she quickly disillusioned herself and follow him to the bubble room.

Choey hurried along the corridor behind Cutie, not making a single sound in her slippered feet. A couple times Cutie paused, as though she heard something and Choey would hold her breath until Cutie continued walking again. Finally, Cutie stepped through the door of the bubble room...and then closed it behind her. Curses! Thought Choey angrily. Now what am I going to do? Searching her mind for any spell that might help her, she finally remembered one that her cousin had taught her when she was only six..."Minisculus!" She immediately shrunk down to the size of a cat. She slipped under the door into the Bubble Room to find Vamp, Pitin, and Cutie conversing softly.

Pitin looks around the bubble room. It is within this room that over half the short cuts around Pheonix Eye reside. She spotted Vamp and the other and proceeded to chew their ears off. "What the blazes do you guys think you are doing sneaking around a this hour? I mean, Vamp we already have a detention do you want to see the light of day again?" She continued like that for several hours until she wore herself out.

Sweety was sitting in the library, whistling and doodling in her book... she was drawing little hearts around two names, one was hers, one wasn't.

Cutie, Pitin, Choey and Vamp all stood in the middle of the bubble room, the orange bubbles dancing around them in candle light, giving off an eerie orange glow much like sunset although it was much past midnight.  
"Well" Vamp started. "I was only going to ask Cutie if she though anything was wrong with this extra class, but since you guys are here I can ask you too." There was a slight silence, and then Choey jumped in. "And we will be snooping around obviously. Right?"  
She looked at everyone inquisitively.  
"Why else would we be out of bed?" Said Pitin, twirling her fingers through her short hair with a smirk on her face.  
At this time Sweetie was coming back from the library. She had been studying late, and the librarian mustn't have noticed she was still in there.  
She walked past the bubble room on the way back to her common room and hearing the feint whispering,

Sweety stopped, "What the?" She thought and poked her head in the bubble room. She wasn't in here often, so even though she knew they were there the bright orange bubbles still surprised her. "Hey guys... what's going on?"

"You might as well join us." Said Cutie.

"Is that popcorn I can smell from your bag?" Said Choey, with her nose in the air like a lunatic.

"Are those love hearts on your book?" Said Vamp blankly, not thinking about what he just said then silently looking apologetic afterwards.

"MY POPCORN!" she clutched the bag protectively against her, "None for you!" She decided to ignore Vamps comment; the best way to avoid answering a question was to just pretend it was never asked.

"Have a seat." Vamp conjured a chair for Sweetie.

They spent the next five minutes telling Sweetie about why they were up, and why Professor Nulmit was such a "Sock puppet!" (As Pitin had put it)

"Why are you up so late?" Asked Cutie, when the conversation on whether "Nulmit smells more like an old sock puppet or a new puke socket" had ended.

"Humph." Sweety said, thinking, "That's odd. Nulmit has never given me a problem before. Maybe its because I haven't been giving _her_ enough trouble." she grinned evilly, "and I was studying and fell asleep on my books." She said simply.

"Anyway, Nulmit's been acting much stranger than usual." Said Pitin.  
"So what are we waiting for now?" Said Vamp getting to his feet. "Now's the perfect time for snooping…And I'll stop using that word!"  
Pitin and Cutie stood up and Choey made her puppy dogs face while pleading for popcorn!  
"You want to come Sweetie?" Said Cutie.

Sweety still clung to the popcorn, "Of corse I wanna come, I love spying-BACK YOU VULTURES!" she held her wand like a sword and tried to fight them off.

"We have to be quiet." Pitin reminded them.  
"We will get more done if we go in groups." Said Vamp.  
"Agreed."  
Sweety and Vamp teamed up, roughly doing Disillusionment charms on each other.  
Cutie, Pitin and Choey went in a group of three.

Vamp could tell it would take a lot to keep them quiet!

Sweety grinned; "Alright, lets do some spying!" she quickly walked down the halls, behind tapestries and statues, up flights of stair and down some, with vamp right behind her the whole way. Soon they were right outside the teacher's office. "Ok...lets see..." she jiggled the handle, but it was locked, "Alohomora." it still wouldn't budge. "Hmmm, looks like she has something to hide..." she thought for a second, "wait! I know!" she opened her mouth and took out one of the wires on her braces, bending it just so and inserting it into the keyhole. In seconds there was a "click" and the door swung inward. "Heh heh heh..." she chuckled, replacing the wire in her mouth.

"Nice work." Said Vamp deeply impressed, I knew that muggle book of dentistery you were reading in History of Magic would be of some use.  
The teacher's office was fairly messy in most parts. Even while the teachers were asleep the filing had been bewitched to do itself, so papers silently flew across the room as the moonlight flooded in from the large solitary window.  
"Which one's Nulmit's desk?" Said Vamp, closing the door behind him.

She shook her head, "No idea. And I'm afraid my braces can't fix this problem..." she sighed, "lets start looking." she went to search the first desk, then stopped, "Wait, they might be bewitched. You know, teachers being paranoid about kids changing grades and all..." she thought, but no ideas came to her, "we have to search the desks without touching anything..." she shook her head, it was impossible.

"Good point." Said Vamp.  
"I don't think Harry or Nulmit would keep anything of real importance in here anyway. There's always a chance of another teacher finding it."  
They were about to leave when they heard the door creak open.  
"Quickly!" Whispered Vamp. And he pulled Sweety behind the opening door.  
"Jingle bells, this place smells!" Came Choey's voice.  
It was only the others.

"Nulmit laid an egg!" Sweety chimed in, stepping out from behind the door. "Hey guys, find anything? We haven't had any luck."

"This is the weirdest thing, talking to people you can't see." Said Pitin.  
They had all done pretty shabby jobs on disillusioning each other. Things like elbows and the bottom of their robes could still be seen, but just barely.  
"Well if you guys are still up for a stroll, I have to send a Penguin. Wanna join me?" Said Vamp.

"Sure!" Sweety said enthusiastically, "Who you penguining?" she sung 'Jingle bells, this place smells, Nulmit laid an egg.' over and over in her head, it was stuck there now, amidst the other million and some odd songs stored away in her files.

"One of my many fans." Vamp replied sarcastically.  
The other didn't ask twice.  
The walk to the penguinary was relatively quiet, just small talk. Vamp liked the castle at night. The many rooms changed after dark, some doors became visible, and some paintings changed form.  
Something caught his eye in one of the corridors, taking his mind away from Sweety's brace trick and how well that would work with his fangs.  
There was a large mirror at the end of a small alcove like room in the corridor.

Sweety didn't notice Vamp pausing until she ran into him, "Oof, oh sorry buddy." she followed his gaze, "Whatcha looking at? Is it interstin'?" she asked, interestedly.

"A mirror?" Said Vamp vaguely.

By this time Choey, Cutie and Pitin had stopped and come over to see what the big attraction was.

Bang!

The students whipped their heads around to origin of the noise.

It was a second year Shadows student.

Not seeing them because of the disillusionment charms and the dark, she had tripped over Pitin's robes.

Sweety nearly jumped out of her skin, "Holy shiza!" She exclaimed, "Let's get outta here!"

The girl picked herself up, but didn't move. She remained standing on Pitin's robes, as if she was in some kind of trance.

Sweetie, Choey and Cutie all went to Pitin's aid. Vamp however looked the girl straight in the face.

Her eyes were blank, as if she actually was in some kinds of trance.

She was now off Pitin's robes and continued walking in the direction of the penguinary.

"Is she sleepwalking?" Whispered Choey.

"With a letter in her hand?" Said Pitin.

The students' hearts were beating like earthquakes.

"We should probably get back to our common rooms. In case anyone else heard the commotion." Said Cutie.

Sweety shook her head grimly, "Oh no. I'm not going back. No way, no how. I have to know what this is all about. Even if I get detention." Once sweetie's curiosity was perked, there was no un-perking it

"No way, not now! We are five feet away from a broken in teachers office. Did we even relock it?" Said Vamp in a serious yet hushed voice.  
"We can get back to our common rooms if we can make it to the sixth floor, then back to the bubble room!" Said Cutie, also no longer her calm self.

Sweety just waved her wand and the door resealed itself, her eyes were still fixed stubbornly on the student. "I'm going." she said firmly, "If I get caught, that's my fault."

Sweety followed the kid determinedly. One thing she was proud of about herself, once she had a goal, all else became obsolete in its importance to her. She had to know what this kid was doing, if not it would bother her and bother her until she went mad! Well, madder than she already was.

"Now's not the time Sweety!" Said Cutie.  
Vamp seconded Cutie, "If it's something really big, how much to do want to bet this girl is doing this more than one night a week! I'm going to bed, it's two o'clock." And with that he turned down a small spiral staircase hidden behind a large Chinese style vase, decorated with falling pink lotus flowers that actually moved.  
Choey just stood there staring at the flowers for a while then decided to follow Sweety.

"Night Vamp..." she said quietly, still following.

Getting back to the common room around two o'clock, Vamp un-disillusioned himself and went to bed.  
He pondered on what had happened tonight for a while before falling deep asleep.

He hadn't slept for long before Pitin bewitching gobstones onto his bed had waked him.  
He changed into his robes and met her down stairs.  
"Ready for breakfast?" Pitin said in the overly cheery voice she used purposely to scare Vamp.  
"Sure...is bed provided?"

Sweety was in the breakfast hall, poking her bacon with a forlorn expression. And Sweety _adored_ bacon, so the fact that she wasn't eating it was like a big neon sign saying, "I'm angry, leave me alone." She had almost gotten caught last night and didn't get to find out what the letter was about. She glanced up at the staff table to see the headmistress talking animatedly to Mr. potter with a huge goofy grin on her face. She was always so giddy around him, which was nice because she wasn't so strict then.

Vamp and Pitin sat down at the Sweetlins table, pushing aside many students just to sit next to Amber (not being her usual 'Sweety' at the time).  
"So what did you get up to last night?" Said Vamp still a little tired.  
Someone from the Calisto table had called Pitin over so she got up and left Vamp, Sweety and the massacred bacon to themselves.

Amber glared at the bacon thinking, 'Its all your fault...' out loud she said, "stupid artery clogging sin-bucket." then picked up a piece and stuffed it whole into her mouth, "god, I love you!" she then remembered vamps question, "oh! Uh, I got caught. No more to it. We'll have to try again."

Vamp raised an eyebrow.

"Who caught you?"

The bell rang for first period. And the usual clutter of students exiting the hall commenced.

"Oh, great, History first up. Tell me the whole thing there."

And Vamp quickly left for the Knocturnes table.

Sweety started for the classroom, halfway out the door she dashed back and grabbed a handful of bacon and munched on it joyously all the way to class, where she sat in the back.

Vamp arrived to class relatively late, snuck through the door while the teacher was writing dates on the board, and sat next to Sweety (who had somewhat cheered up a little.)  
"So who caught you...and where?" Vamp had a grave feeling about the teachers lounge, but remembered Sweety had sealed it last night.

"I said I ALMOST got caught." she smiled, "well technically he DID catch me, but he pretended like I wasn't there and let me go, he didn't even take points."

"You jinxed Harry Potter! You threatened him to let you go? He needs new glasses? How did that happen?" Said Vamp awestruck.  
But then he thought for a second. "Where exactly did you run into him?"

"Just outside the penguinary. He was sending a letter too." she smiled, "And I didn't jinx him. Not that I could, I'm sure he could block anything I had for him anyway. Though I'm sure the handy dandy, all purpose, metal, teeth rearranging straightening device could have aided me somehow." she winked and indicated her braces.

Vamp laughed out loud then quickly quietened himself, realising where he was.  
He gave Cutie a small, indicating his small fangs. "Or these?"  
Vamp didn't want to get Sweety upset or angry again about mentioning why Harry had been sending a penguin at that hour of the morning, or why he had bothered to use a penguin- Vamp could of sworn he had seen him around with a white barn owl.

Sweety was smiling to herself, not noticing Vamps thoughtful expression. She hummed a tiny bit and started to flip through her book to the page the teacher had said, right past the page with the hearts on it.

The rest of the lesson went past fairly silently, Vamp slowly writing down random notes while looking out the window, Sweetie drawing on her notebook.  
"Now for 10 house points, who was the first Merperson ever to be allowed an account at Gringotts?"  
Someone in the front raised their hand.  
"Fraljefhaud...uhh"  
"Tauteeevskic." Vamp finished for him mindlessly.  
"Good, 10 points each."

Sweety still wasn't paying attention, she had a quick quotes quill taking notes for her and her head was off in neverland with Peter Pan and the lost boys, looking forward to care of magical creatures today. They were supposed to start dragons. They wouldn't get a _real_ dragon unfortunately, but it would still be wonderful!

Choey's hand was about to fall off from taking constant notes and her head was spinning with meaningless names and dates.

It was all she could do not to cheer when the bell signalling the end of History class rang.  
"Please tell me it's Care of Magical Creatures or something interesting next," she said tiredly as she joined Vamp, Sweety, Cutie, Evy, and Pitin leaving the class. "I swear, if I have to sit through one more class like that I'll...oh forget it!" she finished as the rest cocked their eyebrows at her. Choey made this statement every day leaving History class, but she never did anything.


	2. chap 2

"Oh, and on the first try too. That doesn't happen very often." Cutie commented. She and Vamp took their custom seats at the back of the class, which was elevated just a little so they could still see and waited for the rest of the class, as well as their teacher.

"Last night was crazy. But so fun! We should do it again some time don't you think? Maybe we should wait until we get better at disillusionment though. It was kind of shoddy, I'm surprised we weren't caught by that girl. I wonder what was up with her." Cutie said quickly as she got out her books and wand and quills. "Oh yeah, did Sweety tell you if she found anything out? I didn't get a chance to talk to her at breakfast. Me and Choey were discussing the best way to "welcome" the first years..." she added.

"She nearly got caught...kind of got caught. Potter was there, so she was sent back to bed. She didn't say anything else about it."  
Vamp also readied his books and quills (although they very rarely had to use them.)  
"Uh, just to be random, do you think it's strange that Harry caught Sweetie in the penguinary? As in Harry Potter, being in the penguinary really early in the morning?"

Cutie pondered this while chewing on the end of a quill. It was quite a sad looking quill by now.

"You know Vamp; I do think that is odd. Why would he get up so early just to send a letter? You don't think he's got anything to hide do you? No, that can't be right. I mean, just look at all he's done!" Cutie questioned exasperatedly, her voice getting louder. People began to turn around in their seats so Cutie quieted herself.

"Oh man, if he ends up being a turncoat. So many people are going to be angry. Including me." she added with a very angry look on her face.

"I haven't got any exact ideas, but I guess we can always find out." Said Vamp with a sly smile just wide enough to see two pointy white tips.  
"Okay class!" Said the charms professor in her usual loud voice.  
"This way please! Books away, wands out."

"You know Vamp, when you smile like that. I kind of get the feeling you're thinking about eating everyone in this room. And then I remember that you're not -that- evil. I hope...I think. Hehehe." Cutie joked. She was especially hyper because of the late night and now it was charms! Her favourite class of all.  
"Alright class, today we're using the incenduim charm!" their professor chimed in a louder voice than was necessary.

"Oh goody oh goody oh goody oh goody. FIRE!" Vamp and Cutie chanted together.

"Now" Began Professor Therin "This spell is fairly useful when done correctly. Fire is generally essential if you are in any emergency where you are away from medical aid."

Every student in the class was on the edge of their seats, eager to start, but the professor pulled on. "The incantation is 'Incendio'. But be careful, you have to focus on the flame. I want just a small flame, enough to light this small piece of wood." She held up a small stick. "It takes utter control over the wand! Once you master that, then we will move onto bigger things!"

And with that she handed out the small sticks to everyone.

The next half an hour was full of smoke and fire. Therin had been smart enough to put fire resistant charms on everything in the classroom, which was why when Anthony Kennet produced an enormous fireball; the desk hadn't been burnt to a crisp (Unlike the hem of his robes).

Everyone was either making barely a spark or incinerating their stick to a pile of dust.

That was, until Cutie was made to show everyone in the class how to do it.

"Incendio!" She chanted. And a small but strong flame engulfed the twig.

"Good!" Said Professor Therin. Now Cutie, you can move onto this." And she brought forth a rocking chair. I can trust you to control the flame just enough to only burn the backrest?"

Cutie was a little conscious about being made to perform in front of the entire class, but raised her wand nevertheless, "Incendio!"

A dazzling whirl of flame leapt from the tip of her wand and engulfed only the backrest of the chair, leaving the rest untouched.

"Excellent!" Squealed professor Therin "50 points to Calisto!"

Cutie still stood in front of the class, blushing a little. She wasn't that big of a fan of performing spells in front of people.

"Wow! Thanks Professor Therin!" Cutie smiled, shocked at the large number of points awarded.  
The rocking chair that had been burning neatly flared up with the flames licking the ceiling.

"Whoa! Hehe, sorry Miss. Forgot that was still burning." she apologized as she doused the large flames, which had singed the unfortunate Anthony. He was sitting in the front row and now had no eyebrows.

"Cutie, you should know better. Spells like these are very tied to emotions. You'll have to learn to control how your thoughts flow down to your wand unless you'd like to burn down the entire school. Now go back to your seat, take this chunk of rock with you. I'd like to see if you can set THAT on fire! Haha!" Professor Therin laughed, a little crazily, knocking poor Anthony over as he went to the hospital wing.

Cutie took her seat back beside Vamp.  
"Whew" she said, "That was fun!"

No one was assigned homework, they were in fact forbidden to practice that spell outside the charms classroom.  
The students that took Advanced Care of Magical Creatures were outside, learning about dragons.  
"Why don't you do Advanced Care of Magical Creatures Cutie?" Vamp asked intrigued, "Almost all the Calisto do it!" But before she could answer Choey cam running through the door.

"I'm so sorry Professor!" she panted, holding on to the doorframe for support. "I dropped ALL my books and everything scattered everywhere. And then when I was picking them up, I tripped again and the ones I had picked up flew everywhere again and-" The professor silenced her and told her to sit down and be quiet. Choey nodded hurriedly, then dragged a chair up next to Cutie and Vamp, who were smirking and shaking their heads.

"Vamp! Choey! Where are you two going? We had Care of Magical creatures yesterday, don't you remember? We're not in the "career" Care of Magical Creatures like Sweety and Pitin are. We have transfiguration now. Lets go! We're gonna be late!" Cutie called as she began to run down the hall, darting behind a tapestry.

"Ah! The joys of Transfiguration!" Choey said airily as she walked down the hall with Vamp and Cutie. "What'd I miss in Charms anyway?"  
"Incendio," Cutie replied.  
"And Cutie's chair-burning performance," Vamp added, grinning. Choey cocked an eyebrow, then jumped slightly at the sight of Vamp's fangs.  
"I'm sorry, you rock and everything, but those fangs creep me out every time..."

"Eh, its not really just the fangs. I've gotten used to those. It's more when he gets that evil-and-yet-far-off-in-though look with just the tips showing. Like this" Cutie joked, attempting to show just the tips of her teeth while smiling - unsuccessfully - until she realized that people were looking at her funny. Then she waved at them.

"Oh, and you also missed Cutie burning Anthony's eyebrows off as she nearly burned down the class. That was fun." Vamp added. Cutie stuck her tongue out at him as the three came out from behind a statue, five minutes early for their transfiguration class.

"I can't believe that NO ONE else except us knows these shortcuts. They're so obvious." Choey commented as she Vamp and Cutie sat down on the floor outside the class.

"So, are we up for another sleepless night tonight?" Vamp mentioned casually.  
"My nights are always sleepless." Said Choey proudly.  
"That's because you stay up all night trying to jinx the Calisto common room fireplace into a popcorn machine!" Cutie retorted playfully.  
The three sat there talking for a few more minutes until more students came.  
Pitin and Evy arrived, followed shortly afterwards by Professor Brude.  
"Hello." They chimed, joining the circle.  
"So where were you in charms?" Vamp asked Choey.

"I knew that excuse about dropping my books wouldn't fool anyone except the Professor!" Choey replied, scrunching her face up in annoyance. "Well, I really did drop my books, and as I was running around trying to pick them up, I bumped into this random first year. Only, he was exactly like that girl last night. Blank stare, no sense of consciousness...it was creepy. Anyways, I tried to follow him, and I got as far as that portrait of the guy who turned his hair into a purple ferret, when I tripped over the edge of that stupid Oriental rug they put down in that corridor. And then, once I got up and straightened the rug, the kid was gone." As Choey finished, the lesson began, preventing anyone from commenting on Choey's strange escapade.  
"Good morning class!" the Professor began. "Today we will be turning our shoes into animals and back."

A series of hushed conversation ran through the class. "Animal shoes?" "I heard people get serious injuries from animal shoes." "Last year my Grandma's next door neighbour's nephew had animal shoes!"

Professor Brude talked over this. "The incantation is 'revershoea'. Repeat after me, 'Revershoea'."

The class repeated the incantation in a dull monotonous voice, all except for Choey who practically sung it to the tune of 'Jingle Bells'.

"The wand movement is your standard, inward celestial turn. Please watch. Uhhh, Anthony, could you please stand up."

Anthony had been sent back to class with some orange paste over his eyebrows, which some recognised as burn heal from third year when participating in duels.

Anthony shakily stood in his place as Brude aimed her wand at him. "Revershoea!"

His shoes turned into squawking penguins then faded back to his regular sneakers.

"Uh, sir, do these already count as animals? They're sort of alive."  
Cutie questioned, pointing at her bunny-slippered feet  
"Come here Cutie, I can give you a temporary solution."  
The teacher said as he changed Cutie's slippers back into regular shoes.

Pitin, Vamp, Evy, and Choey chuckled as Cutie staggered back to her seat.  
"Quiet you's, I'm not used to shoes!"  
"Everyone pay attention! The spell is 'revershoa' say it with me: RE-VERSH-OOA!"

"Oh, that's no good," Professor Brude said shaking his head. "They're supposed to STAY animals. Who wants to try next?"  
"Oh, oh, me, ME!" Choey said bouncing up and down in her seat with her hand stretched as far as it could go.  
"Ok, fine, Choey, please show us," Professor Brude sighed, resigning to the fact that only Choey would be insane enough to try to turn her shoes into animals and keep them like that.  
"Revershoa!" Choey chanted clearly, waving her wand. Immediately, her spotless white sneakers turned into spotless white Bichon Frisés. Choey returned to her seat, put her shoeless feet up on her desk, tipped her chair back, and smiled. Her two Bichon dog-shoes sat obediently on either side of her chair.

The class looked on in amazement as Choey led her dogs on to do tricks in perfect synchronization.

"OK! Now that we've seen the right way of how to do it, I'd like you all to try it!" Soon the room was full of wand-waving and incantation-calling.

By the end of class, everyone had successfully transfigured their shoes. Vamp's were small brown roosters that would cluck and chase him, nipping at his heels, Pitin's were miniature leopards that would do nothing but laze around on the desk as Evy's enormous butterflies glided overhead. And Cutie's were tiny gazelles that would flit around the classroom, hopping over the leopard that would swat lazily at them as they yawned. The class ended up being a total mess and disaster. But at least it was a fun one.

No one was together for afternoon classes that day, so they left in opposite directions after Transfiguration had ended!

"I'll see you after dinner." Vamp said, winking to the others. "I hear the bubble room is nice in the evening, around nine-ish." And with that he left for his next class.

The rest of the afternoon breezed by, everyone was assigned copious amounts of homework and assignments.

Vamp left his final class and headed straight for the Great Hall, not even bothering to attempt the stairs and put his bag in the common room.

"I swear, if that stupid vine rips out another strand of my hair I'm gonna..."  
Choey was once again ranting about the rather dangerous vine in Exploratoria Herbology. "That's the seventeenth time it's gone and done something to my hair! If only my mother hadn't made me sign up for that class!"  
"Choey, chill!" Cutie said, silencing the rant. "The vine didn't do anything noticeable to your hair, okay? Now take a deep breath, and come with me to find Vamp and the others."

Pitin, Evy, Vamp and Cap sat at the Knocturnes table.

"I've got lots of homework." Said Evy swilling a goblet of pumpkin juice in one hand. "I was also going to the tower tonight to brush up on some astronomy."

"You know the universe like the back of you hand." Nudge Pitin, knocking over the goblet. "Just come."

"Well I'm going to get ready now." Said Vamp, getting up. "Cap, I'll catch you later."

It was eight o'clock. Vamp had already seen Potter leave the staff table- 'O no!' He thought to himself, 'Nulmit! And I still have detention!'

This was true; Pitin and Vamp still had detention for being out of bed after hours.

"I've been looking for you. Professor Potter already explained what was going on. Tell Ms Kathleen that you are both off detention."

Although this was good news, Professor Nulmit retained her irony gaze and her firm brisk voice.

"I suggest you go straight to bed tonight however."

"Yes...goodnight then. Don't let those bed bugs bite." Vamp smiled, purposely letting his fangs show.

"I told you I could do it perfectly!" Choey said, exasperated, watching as Cutie turned slowly in the mirror, making sure that she was completely disillusioned.  
"Ok, you're right, you did it," Cutie admitted reluctantly.  
"Ok, we've come to an agreement, now let's go!" Choey was impatient to get going. She grabbed Cutie's arm (or what she hope was her arm, she couldn't really tell) and started dragging her out of the dormitory.  
Once the two girls reached the corridor, they walked cautiously. Though Choey had smartened up and had worn slippers, there was always the off chance of tripping, as she seemed to be prone to doing.  
"This way," Cutie breathed, veering suddenly off to the right and leading Choey through a passage hidden behind a giant statue of a centaur. Unfortunately, Choey's reflexes didn't respond as quickly as she should have and she ran right into the statue, which came down with a crash that made the dead turn over in their graves.

Choey hit the ground with a thud, stunned for a second, then she doubled-up in a ball, trying to hide her laughter.

"CHOEY! Shhhh! You'll get us caught!" Cutie said in a whisper, looking frantically up and down the hall. Just then a person turned the corned and began walking quickly down the hall. Cutie and Choey froze, they couldn't see who it was, they could only see a silhouette of the person. They looked to be younger than most teachers though.

Quickly, Cutie grabbed Choey and pulled her to her feet and crossed the hall in front of the person, and behind a tapestry.

"They saw us! They saw us they saw us they saw us!" Choey was whispering before she clamped a hand over her own mouth.

"Oh crudmuffins. Uh, uh, where are we? Hold on," Cutie thought aloud, trying to get her bearings in the dark castle while Choey desperately tried to hurry her up.

"I got it!" Cutie said as again she grabbed Choey's arm and pulled her farther along the secret passageway until they reached a certain spot of bricks. She pulled out her wand, pressed it to a crack and muttered something under her breath. The wall opened up with just barely enough room for two people. They climbed in and the walls closed over just as the person began walking down the secret hall. Leaving Choey and Cutie in the pitch dark, listening to heavy footsteps coming towards them.

"Cutie! Choey! It's just me!" Vamp called from the other side of the wall, also trying to suppress his laughter.

"VAMP!" Choey and Cutie both whispered angrily through the wall.  
Cutie tapped the wall again with her wand and it opened up. A wave of fresh air hit the two girls as they stepped out.  
"Vamp, you dirtbag, you scared the living daylights outta me!" Choey half whispered, half panted, punching him jokingly on the shoulder.  
"Yes, well, that crash probably scared the whole school it was so loud. And that hurt!" Vamp replied, rubbing the spot where CHoey had hit him.  
"Ok, yeah, can we save the arguing for later?" Cutie said hurriedly. "We have to get out of here in case any-"  
"Who's out here?"  
"Too late!" Choey said. "RUN!"

Things were on edge around the castle after what happened that night. Teachers re-read the after dark rules before everyone class, informing students of curfews and such.

And to add to that, it was nearly Christmas. Not only were the teachers cutting down on late night walkers, but the infamous 'tinsel fiend' whose last attack had been the quidditch hoops. (Every goal scored made the quaffles loudly sing carols, the bludgers transfigure into giant holly berries and the snitch to explode in a shower of party hats and chocolate just likes a bon-bon.)

It was Christmas Eve before anything was even mentioned snooping about again.  
"Tonight would be the best to do some snooping." Said Vamp leaving the Charms room (which had been the last class for the day.) "What with Moon- I mean, the 'tinsel fiend' lurking about and the party tonight."

"Let's prioritise, pudding, then snooping!" Added Cutie.

Sweety waltzed down the hallways, whistling carols and handing out wreaths to every passer-by. She was smiling like a Cheshire cat, but at the same time being sure to avoid mistletoe.

Everyone was in the Great Hall for dinner, sitting together, as there were no house tables during the holidays. Over the dull roar of the students, clear Christmas carols could be heard. Just then the doors burst open to reveal Sweety singing at the top of her lungs and dodging under mistletoe as if it would drop something heavy on her.

"Oh...he he, HEY!" she called as soon as she realized everyone was looking at her. She sat down with Vamp, Cutie, and the others who looked amused.

"You know, the mistletoe only sticks you to the spot if you walk under WITH someone else. When you're alone its safe..." Pitin said through her giggles.

"Really? Good to know" Sweety said as she pulled some pudding towards her.

"So anyways, now that you're here too Sweetie, we're meeting in the Bubble Room again tonight. Real late - 1:30 in the morning so we're not caught by anyone." Vamp informed "Is there anyone who thinks they wont be awake by then?" he added.

"I will!" Sweety said with a hundred watt smile, "That is if my 8 mugs of hot cocoa don't wear off by then..." she was giggling uncontrollably. "Now if you'll excuse me, I cant hold still!" she got up and started to walk laps around the hall, stopping to talk to people and wish them a happy holiday and OCCASIONALLY pass out a gift.

Choey faked falling asleep, banging her head down on the table all to the amusement of the others. Her head shot back up again a second later, casually looking around as if someone might actually inform them of being too tired (with a spot of pudding on her nose she wasn't aware of).

"Uh, well maybe we should meet somewhere different." Began Evy. "It's always the bubble room and habits lead to getting caught."  
Everyone nodded at this, then silently thought for a moment.  
"Well what abo- ahhhh-" Choey had just been dragged away to dance.

Sweety saw people dancing and jumped with happiness! "DANCING! WEEEEEE!" she said happily and grabbed the nearest person, which just happened to be Vamp.

"Lets go! I wanna dance!" she said with another enormous smile.

Vamp didn't have time to say no, so he just played along. There were so many people dancing it was impossible to be spotted but Vamp (unlike Sweety) still felt incredibly nervous and wasn't a very good dancer.

In fact he wasn't very good at all. He just seemed to be there, not dancing, but rather standing next to Sweety who was moving to music at her own pace.

Sweety smiled, "Come on! Move!" she picked up his hands by the wrist and made a feeble attempt to make him move, "It's no fun otherwise! You just have to suspend your vanity! Nobody CARES what you dance like, that's the beauty of it!"

"Hey look! Mistletoe!" Vamp said while pointing to the roof.

Sweety jumped out of the way.

"Just kidding!" Said Vamp smugly.

Sweety looked up at the ceiling, bare of mistletoe.

"I think I'll go tell Choey she still has pudding on her nose."

Sweety looked at her feet, "Awwwww, its no fun to dance alone..." she snapped out of it in a second though, "hey! Maybe somebody else will dance with me!"

This was true, a 7th year Calisto boy was about to ask her before Cutie zipped her way and up into the girls bathroom at an unbelievably fast rate.

"I've spoken to Moo- I mean, the tinsel fiend, and something will be happening. We're meeting the others in roughly..." An enormously large bang went off from down stairs "now."

Cutie lead Sweety back downstairs, and pulled her through people running in all directions. And there was the gang, all standing calmly amidst the havoc.

"Could you please be a little less inconspicuous?" Said Cutie as a large holly wreath fell and landed straight into Sweety's hands.

"Err, here, Merry Christmas!" And she handed it to a screaming 2nd year that went running by.

Sweety looked around before she finally saw the enormous Christmas tree situated directly in the middle of the room. "CHRISTMAS TREE!" she said with another trillion watt grin, "YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" then she noticed it was decked in..."MISTLETOE? AHHHHHH! IT BURNS!"

Not only that, but it's branches were growing at a magical rate, reaching for students and tangling them in tinsel and decorations. Strangely enough, it had also been jinxed to yell the phrase "How do you like it?"  
The group casually left through the passageway that lead to the kitchens.

Sweety waited until they were out of sight before she burst out laughing. "That moon-I mean... tinsel fiend...sure is creative!" she smiled, glancing back over her shoulder, though the mistletoe was a bit frightening..."

Choey bumped into Vamp as she stumbled, purely by chance, to where they were. She was giggling uncontrollably.  
"Um...Choey, are you feeling okay?" Vamp asked hesitantly, gently pushing Choey a few feet away from him.  
Choey said something that sounded like it was about mistletoe, but no one could understand her due to the continued fits of giggles.  
"I knew we shouldn't have let her have sugar!" Sweety said, forcing Choey down in a chair. She continued giggling silently until Vamp got an idea and flashed his fangs.  
"I hate it when you do that!" Choey whined, folding her arms and pretending to pout.

Sweety giggled, "we ALL hate it when he does that. That's why he does that."

"Nuh-uh!" vamp said indignantly smiling wide enough to show his fangs.

"Vamp!" cutie swatted at him.

"Okay, so...oh yeah, I almost forgot!" Choey started rummaging through her bag, getting blank stares from everyone else. Finally, she pulled out a handful of candy canes and started handing them out, then stuck one in her own mouth. "No sens in having a secret Christmas Eve meeting without the proper sugary treats!"

Sweety squealed happily, "Candy cane!" she grabbed it then saw that it had a little stick of mistletoe tied on it, "AH! IT BURNS!" she dropped it and the candy cane shattered. "Awwwww..." she made a sad face "candy cane go bye bye..."

"Oh my gosh..." Choey said, shaking her head. "Reparo!" The candy cane flew back together. Choey picked it up, removed the mistletoe, and returned to candy to Sweety.  
"Yay!" Sweety squealed, happily beginning to eat the sugary delight.

"YAY!" she said, munching happily and hugging Choey at the same time! "Candy cane came back!"

Vamp and Choey watched as Sweety, Cutie (with a little tinsel strung through her hair), Pitin and Evy ate their candy canes.

"Uh…you want a bite?" Evy said to Vamp and Choey.

There was a silent pause as everyone slowly took the candy canes out of their mouths.

"Okay, what did you do to them?" Said Pitin in an interrogating voice.

"Well, we knew if we handed you something both Choey and I had made, you would have gone running for the hills…"

"Which is why," Choey cut in "we disguised the potion Vamp and I made in these candy canes!" Choey finished with a very large smile on her face.

Simultaneously they all spat out the candy cane into tissues and handkerchiefs.

"What's in them?" Said Sweety, her face white and stricken with fear.

"No, it's called an escape potion! Choey and I devised it whilst skipping those compulsory dance lessons they made us take last year." Vamp said proudly.

They all looked at Choey as if for reassurance.

Choey nodded madly, still holding the large smile on her face. "What they do, is, when you start to get really nervous, you basically just teleport yourself back to someplace safe."

"It's like a portkey, only weaker." Vamp intervened.

"And tastier!" Choey added hooking into a candy cane.

"So, what's to stop us from teleporting home?" Said Sweety, eyeing of her candy cane suspiciously.

"It's weaker, it can't really take you very far."

"Have you tested them yet?" Asked Evy in an excited tone.

"Yeah, Choey and I both got sent back to our common rooms."

"So, without further ado, shall we snoop?" Choey whispered handing a candy cane to Vamp.

Sweety held the candy cane out with her thumb and forefinger, "I uh... lost my appetite. But sure, snooping sounds good!"

"Okay, let's go!" Choey whispered, gesturing for everyone to come. She started walking but then faulted. "Sweety, you have to eat it. It's the only way we can guarantee a safe escape if we get caught."  
Sweety glanced down at the half-eaten candy cane in her hand. It didn't look like she had any intention of so much as licking it. Choey, however, had run out of patience. She first shrunk the candy cane, and then stuffed it in Sweety's mouth. While the others laughed, Sweety chewed purely because Choey was starting to scare her.  
"Well, now that that's taken care of..." Choey said breezily, compulsively straightening her clothes before turning and starting to walk.

Sweety stared at her toes and swallowed the candy cane. She didn't like being laughed at. She followed obediently just the same though.

Vamp finished his candy cane and followed the others down into a long corridor. To the left were the kitchens and to the right was a short cut to the penguinary.

Sweety stopped and tried to pull them into the kitchen, "C'mon! I'm hungry!"

"Sweety!" cutie frowned. "Could you PLEASE think about something OTHER than you stomach?"  
She blinked, "Is that possible?"

"Actually..." Vamp began thoughtfully. "If something strange is going on, the house elves probably saw something."

Everyone silently agreed except Pitin. "Will they speak though? Remember they're incredibly loyal to the staff and their-" Pitin put on a high pitched elf voice, "seeecrets."

"Worth a try." Said Evy laughing.

"Lot's o' cleaning, no time for suspicion!" Squeaked an who was wearing a rather handsome purple sock as a scarf.

"I told you this was a waste of time!" Said Pitin plainly, looking about at the large kitchen.

Vamp politely asked a female elf standing next to him "Could we please get some drinks?"  
She zoomed away excitedly then cam back with a double-decker tray twice the size of her decked with numerous drinks.

"So we're going to the kitchens?" Sweety asked.

"Yup!" said Pitin.

"OH PRAISE THE GODS ABOVE!" Sweety yelled rather loudly. "What are we waiting for? LETS GO!" she grabbed them and dragged them inside, the house elves swarmed them immediately.  
"Oh! What would the miss like? A nice cake? Or a pie?"  
While Sweety pigged out, Moony stepped forward, "Have you seen anything... suspicious lately? We need to know, it's important.

"Lot's o' cleaning, no time for suspicion!" Squeaked an elf who was wearing a rather handsome purple sock as a scarf.

"I told you this was a waste of time!" Said Pitin plainly, looking about at the large kitchen.

Vamp politely asked a female elf standing next to him "Could we please get some drinks?"  
She zoomed away excitedly then came back with a double-decker tray twice the size of her decked with numerous drinks.

Sweety snatched a drink, "thanks!"

Moony pressed on, "Are you SURE? 'Cause the teachers have been acting odd... and what with Harry Potter coming here and all...it's making us wonder."

"Want some tea miss tinsel fiend?" An elderly elf asked Moony.

"No thank...you." Moony stood there, transfixed by the old elf, smiling politely and holding his long grey beard in one hand.

Vamp smiled to himself and took a glass of green liquid from the tray, then bowed to the female elf who blushed and quickly looked at the floor.

"Uh, well..." Moony was looking for something to say, then quickly straightened up. "I will have a cup of tea...not too hot, and just one and seven eighths grams of sugar, and make sure the lemon doesn't mix in until the low fat butter milk is added, but add some fresh room temperature cream first."

Before she had even finished the sentence, three elves ran in front of her, holding her tea on a tray for her to take.

Sweety whistled. "Wow. Okay, I'm impressed."

The others nodded in agreement.

The house elves beamed.

Everyone in the room eyed Moony in silence.  
She took the teacup from the tray, her hand shaking but her face straight and collected.  
She raised it to her lips, and sipped the warm liquid.  
"Goo-yumm-ni...hmmm." Everyone knew that meant she loved it, but the elves stared at her with solemn faces.  
The truth was, that was the best tea Moony had ever had. It was absolutely beautiful, and Moony didn't even like tea...she had butter beer at every meal (and usually sneaked some into History of Magic).

"Anything else for you then?" The old elf gestured politely to a table covered in sweet cakes and fruit.

Sweety burped, "no thanks I'm full." she smiled at them, "That was WONDERFUL! Thank you so much!"

"Our pleasure!" Bowed the old elf.

"Thankyou...feel free to tell us anything you're hiding, 'kay?" Moony said mock politely, but the elves didn't quite understand.

Back into the hall room they realised how silent everything was.  
"We wasted too much time!" Said Cutie.  
She was right, by now Moony's christmas tree would have been taken care of and everyone would have been retired back to the common rooms.

"Shall we be off to snoop then?" Sweety asked her friends.

"Okay, so where are we off to first? The teachers' lounge? Headmistress's office? Or someplace else? Maybe we could sneak into Harry's office? Goodness knows what HES hiding..." now that Sweety was fed she was in a fully sneaky mood.

"We only have time for one, so we should probably split up" suggested Evy.

"Sounds good." Sweety said, suddenly all business, "I'll take Harry's office. Who's coming with?"

"I will," Choey offered. "So that leaves the teachers' lounge, the Headmistress's office, and someplace else." She grinned. "So, choose your poison."

Cutie grinned mischievously "Well, I'd like to hit up the teachers lounge first. Then if we have time we could always check the headmistress's office right? So who's coming with me?" she questioned as spinning around in circles with a glass of iced tea in one hand and a tube of Sweet Tarts in the other.

"I'd love to." Vamp said pleasantly, mock bowing. "Shall we?" And he held his head up high and gestured in the direction of the teacher's lounge.  
Cutie played along."Why thankyou young man." And she walked in through a thin tunnel in the brick wall, barely visible due a large emerald green banner whilst taking tiny bites out of a tart with her pinky finger out.

Sweety and Choey just stared at the pair walking daintily down the hallways, still talking as if they were in the 1920's, and shook their heads as they walked in the other direction towards Harry's office.

As Vamp and Cutie were wandering down the hall, Cutie suddenly took a sharp turn.

"What are you doing?" Vamp asked.

"Oh, just a shortcut" Cutie grinned, as she hip checked a statue. It slid out from the wall, leaving a small gap behind.

"Wanna make a deal? You teach me to do the origami frog thing, and I'll teach you all the shortcuts I can think of ok?" she asked, waiting for a reply.

Vamp pondered for a moment. "Throw in one of those sweet tarts and you have a deal!"  
In a few minutes they emerged from the passage on the other side of the teacher's lounge. The hallway was dim, most of the candles were burning low, they probably had around four hours until sunrise.  
"Listen." Cutie whispered.  
They both stood still in the shadows of the passageway.  
Two people were whispering on the other side of the door inside the lounge.

Evy, Moony and Pitin had already made their way to the headmistress's office. Although getting in would be no easy ordeal. And they still had no idea where she was.

"I wonder who that is..." Cutie whispered quietly. Vamp shrugged.

"I'm not sure, they both sound like women though." He said thoughtfully, listening hard, "I can't quite understand them, think we should get closer?" Cutie nodded and the two crept across the hall and lay with their ears to the bottom of the door.

"No! You can't possibly do that!" one of the voices cried, a note of anxiety found in her voice, "people will talk! There'll be scandal!" A sound of papers rustling and something thick being placed on a desk was heard, and then two sets of footsteps walking towards the door.

With nowhere to go, Vamp and Cutie crouched as far back into the shadows as they could go. The two women left the lounge and before hesitating a moment, turned the other direction. Cutie and Vamp relaxed a little, but still didn't move, or breathe. As the sound of high heels echoed in the halls, one of the teachers stopped and turned around. Nothing but the eerie glow of light reflecting off her eyes could be seen, and she took a few steps back towards the lounge. With an impatient sigh from the other teacher, she turned around and the two clicked out of sight.

Vamp fumbled around in his pocket then pulled out a long flesh coloured string.

"Forgot I had these." He said with a toothy grin. "Got them in London, from "Weird Whizzers" or "Wheezing wizards" or something like that. Anyway, I'll show you how they work." He handed one to Cutie.

"We'll just see if anyone else is in there."

He held it up to his ear and the other end slithered under the door where they had previously been lying.

Cutie did the same with hers.

"I don't hear anything." Cutie said bluntly.

"Then no one is in there."

Cutie wasn't exactly satisfied. "Well, here, have your toy back, let's go in."

They listened hard before creeping out of the shadows, the quickly glanced around the corners of the corridors surrounding the lounge- nothing but the feint patter of rain.

"Well, do your thing." Vamp said, referring to the door.

Cutie pulled out her wand and made a few complicated motions with it, then tapped on the doorknob and the door silently swung open.

Closing the door, behind them, Vamp and Cutie slowly walked into the lounge. There were comfortable looking couches and large desks scattered throughout the room. All of them had drawers and cupboards, but with very complicated looking locks on them. Papers were filing themselves in some of these drawers. It was just like before.

"Okay, we need to look for Nulmit's desk. I think it's moved since we were last here" Vamp whispered. They split up, looking at the desks until Vamp found it.

"Hey, it's over here. But there's nothing on the desk, and its locked. I don't we should try that lock, it'll probably set off an alarm. But how should we open it?"

Cutie frowned a little, biting her bottom lip in concentration as she stared at self-filing papers. An odd light gleamed in her eyes and she whipped around, "I've got it! Come here Vamp, you've got the most professional handwriting" she said as she whipped out a piece of paper and quill and gave it to Vamp.

"Just write something, fold it, and put 'Professor Nulmit' on the front! It will file itself and then the drawers will be unlocked" she said excitedly.

"Okay okay, just...be quiet" he warned. Carefully writing a short note, he folded it and let it soar into the air.

"What'd you write?" Cutie asked.

Vamp grinned, showing just his fangs "I just put 'we know what you're up to' on it"

Just as Cutie thought the paper landed neatly on top of a filing cabinet, folded and unfolded itself then came back to Nulmit's desk where the top drawer opened and the letter rested.  
Quickly Vamp clutched the heavy wooden draw with his bony fingers and grabbed his wand with the other hand.  
"Conglacio." He casually chanted and the draw seized up, frozen and frosted in its place.  
"Should we just go through it?" Asked Vamp.  
"I guess so." Said Cutie. "Wait, remember we heard a really loud thud before. It sounded like a book being dropped… really. Don't ask me how I know...okay, I know because my brother generally 'throws' books around...at me."  
Vamp tried not to laugh.  
Cutie continued. "Of course I took my mother's wand and turned his hair into worms."

Vamp snickered more.  
"Of course, she did make me change him back, and then sent me a howler." Cutie mumbled, "This drawer is really, really cold you know?"

"Well, it is frozen, covered in ice. Tends to make things cold" Vamp retorted.

They continued to flip through the file folder, finding nothing of interest, going through the entire thing and only seeing papers to be marked until Vamp began tapping his fingers on the bottom of the file folder in frustration. THUD.  
"It sounds hollow...like a compartment under the drawer. Should we look?" Cutie asked her mind already made up.

Vamp picked up another piece of blank paper and a quill. Scribbled a really bad drawing of cat, labelled it 'kitty', folded it and wrote 'Professor Nulmit' on it, just like the previous letter.  
And just like the previous letter, it finally came to rest in the already opened drawer.  
"Uh...how are we going to get into it?"


	3. chap 3

Choey and Sweety walked in the opposite direction of Cutie and Vamp, still shaking their heads at their odd and outdated behaviour.  
"So, wait, which was is his office again?" Choey asked in a whisper.  
Sweety pointed to a passageway hidden behind a painting of a dragon. The two girls tiptoed along the passageway, jumping at every little noise. Choey silently prayed that hers and Vamp's potion in the candy canes would work if the DID happen to get caught.

Choey watched in fascination as Sweety unlocked the door with the wire from her braces. Then, as Sweety entered, Choey glanced around one last time to make sure there was no one around. She pulled the door silently shut behind her.  
Inside the office were all sorts of chaotic papers. Harry, apparently, wasn't one for neatness. Choey's fingers twitched slightly, for her OCD was going haywire at the sight of this office obviously lacking organization.  
"Where should we start?" she asked.

Choey rolled her eyes and said, "Reparo!" Instantly, Sweety's braces flew back together and she could close her mouth and talk properly again. Then, she pointed at the drawer and said, "Alohomora!" lazily. The drawer sprang open, revealing a jumbled mess of stuff.  
"Ugh! What's he been keeping in here?" Sweety exclaimed, poking a mouldy-looking lump with the tip of her wand.  
"I don't think I want to know..." Choey said queasily. "You know what? Sweety, you can look in this drawer. I'll just tackle something else...on the other side of the room..."

"Choey, come look at this," Sweety called. Choey came over and glanced at the parchment in Sweety's hand.  
"What?" she asked. "It's a piece of parchment. Throw it away, for goodness' sake! I swear, if what we doing wasn't against the rules, I'd scold Harry for making my OCD go haywire!"  
"No, I have a feeling it's something more," Sweety insisted.  
"Reveilius!" Choey chanted, pointing at the parchment. Nothing. "See? It's just old parchment. Just really...really...old...what the?" For words had just begun unfurling themselves on the parchment.

"You're welcome on the office being cleaned," Choey replied, smiling shyly, the shadow of a blush crossing her face. "My OCD made me do it."  
"So, show us!" Sweety said, trying to keep the fear from coming through in her voice.  
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good..."

"Sweety!" Choey said, elbowing her in the ribs. Choey had been raised with a very obsessive take on being polite. "You'll have to excuse her, it's late, people don't think when it's late and-" Harry held up his hand to stop her. "It's okay."  
He turned around to look out the solitary window opposite them. Sweety took the time to stick her tongue out at Choey while Harry wasn't looking, for she was sure he'd find it very juvenile. Choey simply gave the puppy dog eyes and Sweety felt a miniscule, extremely slight pang of guilt.

"Sweety!" Choey said between clenched teeth, so Harry couldn't hear her. "What bad memories?" she asked before she realized the question was out of her mouth. She slapped her hand over her mouth and looked horrified. "I'm sorry, you don't have to answer that."  
"Now who's being 'rude'?" Sweety said indignantly.

"Oh, but...but..." Choey began, telling her upbringing to go take a hike. Harry just gave her a stern look. She sighed a bowed her head, then looked up with the puppy dog eyes, hoping beyond hope that Harry wasn't immune to them. He chuckled, but shooed her out the door.  
Sweety was waiting patiently for her.  
"He's immune to the puppy dog eyes," she said, pouting. "And that stupid parchment called me a neat freak!" Sweety laughed, then remembered they weren't supposed to be out of bed.  
"Are we meeting the others in the Bubble Room?" Sweety asked.  
"I think so," Choey replied. The two girls checked to see if the coast was clear, then started walking cautiously to the nearest secret passageway, hidden behind a statue. As they passed it, Choey stubbed her toe very hard. She started letting out a slue (sp?) of swears, forgetting to keep her voice down.  
"Choey!" Sweety breathed, grabbing the cursing girl's arm. "Someone will hear us! Shut up!"  
"Hey! Who's out there?"  
"Eek! Not good!" Choey squeaked.

"Yes, we will, Headmistress," Harry replied, smiling. The Headmistress' blush deepened and she shuffled away hurriedly.  
"Thanks for bailing us out!" Choey said.  
"I liked to snoop when I was at Hogwarts, so let's just say it's a favour from troublemaker to troublemaker." Harry grinned. Choey and Sweety both blushed.

"I second that!" Choey added. She turned to go towards the Calisto common room. As she was walking, she heard frantic whispering. She quickly hid behind a statue.  
"...came here all of a sudden! Nobody knows why he left! They say it had to do with DEATH!" The other person gasped. Choey leaned a little forward, straining her ears. The voices were approaching her hiding place.  
"He's plotting something! It's a conspiracy, it must be!" Choey recognized that voice to belong to Nulmit. She leaned a little more forward, not realizing that she was tipping the statue. Just as the Nulmit and her partner rounded the corner, CRASH! The statue went down.  
"I really have to stop knocking things over!" Choey thought, then fear started taking her over as the two people said, "Who's there?" But no sooner had they said that, then Choey found herself safely in her dormitory.  
"Good old Vamp!" she said, smiling to herself.


End file.
